Overdrafts Charges Victory By Consumers

[Cambon]

Going over your limit is theft.

What utter nonsense. Removing money from your account without your permission, and without issuing a bill that you can either agree to pay or challenge seems much more like theft to me.

 

 

You agree with your bank a limit. Going beyond that limit means you are taking money that does not belong to you, with out the "owner's" permission. In any other business you would be prosecuted. As I said above, in some countries it is illegal to take your account overdrawn.

 

As for charges, you have signed a contract agreeing terms and conditions. If you break those terms and conditions the penalties are clearly documented. You are kept up to date and reminded regularly. There is no excuse. In the majority of cases all the bank want is to be kept up to date by you.

[slinkydevil]

You agree with your bank a limit. Going beyond that limit means you are taking money that does not belong to you, with out the "owner's" permission. In any other business you would be prosecuted. As I said above, in some countries it is illegal to take your account overdrawn.

As for charges, you have signed a contract agreeing terms and conditions. If you break those terms and conditions the penalties are clearly documented. You are kept up to date and reminded regularly. There is no excuse. In the majority of cases all the bank want is to be kept up to date by you.

 

I'm not against charges etc. but if it's illegal to go overdrawn why do banks let you? Surely it's easy for a bank to not honour a payment/withdrawl if funds don't exist? Take the gun away from the baby and it won't shoot itself.

[jimbms]

I can see the point someone is making about the banks doing it deliberately, I once had an account with B*&$ays with no overdraft agreed, I also had a loan from them with payment contracted to go out on the 2nd of each month unless this fell on the weekend where it would go out the next Monday and my pay went in on the last day of the month or the Friday before if it was a weekend, any one month they decided to take the payment out the Thursday before as the 1st was on a Sunday hence as my pay did not go in until the day after made me go overdrawn and incur £50 penalty, after a court case they were found to be in breach of their contract by taking it out on this date and ordered to repay me all charges plus interest which they did and then closed my account. So as can be seen this instance the overdraft was not due to bad financial planning but due to a deliberate action by the bank to make me go overdrawn, thus this proves that not all instances are the fault of the customer.

[La_Dolce_Vita]

You agree with your bank a limit. Going beyond that limit means you are taking money that does not belong to you, with out the "owner's" permission. In any other business you would be prosecuted. As I said above, in some countries it is illegal to take your account overdrawn.

 

As for charges, you have signed a contract agreeing terms and conditions. If you break those terms and conditions the penalties are clearly documented. You are kept up to date and reminded regularly. There is no excuse. In the majority of cases all the bank want is to be kept up to date by you.

You have permission to go over your limit and you have permission to not be able to make direct debit or cheque payments. They let you do it. They just charge you for not giving them explicit notice of a specific payment.

 

But I think there are excuses. It is all well and good talking about terms and conditions, but the very ability of the banks to permit such easily achieved and relatively easily prevented 'breaches' of the T&Cs means that for a lot of people who are hard-up on cash, they make use of this 'facility' to go over their limit. But they get ripped off in doing so.

 

But it isn't really theft. The banks will get their money back and they know they will.

 

Anyway, everyone seems to be dwelling on the overdraft problem. What about bounced payments?

[Cambon]

But I think there are excuses. It is all well and good talking about terms and conditions, but the very ability of the banks to permit such easily achieved and relatively easily prevented 'breaches' of the T&Cs means that for a lot of people who are hard-up on cash, they make use of this 'facility' to go over their limit. But they get ripped off in doing so.

 

But it isn't really theft. The banks will get their money back and they know they will.

 

Anyway, everyone seems to be dwelling on the overdraft problem. What about bounced payments?

So if they did not allow you to do this and bounced all your payments where you had insufficient funds, where would you be? Bailiffs? Debt collectors? Prison? Be thankful that the banks stepped in, even if you dont like the charges you incurred.

[La_Dolce_Vita]

I shall not be thankful. From what I can recall the payments did not go through, yet I was still charged. They don't only charge when you DO go over your limit.